Hey friends, it’s Thursday afternoon, a good 36 hours after I usually give you “What I Ate Wednesday”…

This is due to:
a. Baking a bazillion (ok, a few dozen) sugar cookies with my kiddos. These particular ones are a big tradition in my family, and I’ve baked them with my kids ever since they were old enough tho wrap their sweet little hands around a cookie cutter. It’s something we wouldn’t ever think of NOT doing. But halfway through, Tommy looked up and thanked me for always doing it anyway. For him (for all of us!) it’s a tradition that really makes it seem like Christmas. I love that he would be conscious of his gratitude for this simple thing, and love even more that he would express it to me.
Then we laughed about how they should really be thankful that I’m still making them “normal” and not putting “weird stuff” like zucchini or chickpeas in them! Lol, my kids know me too well!
b. Playing an epic game of Risk with the kids that spanned over 2 days. This is the best kind of family game- alliances, camaraderie, battles, strategies, competition… I love it! It was Sara’s first time to play and in about 5 turns she owned half the board…

c. Taking a surfing lesson at Club Manila East with Philippine Surfing Academy with Tommy and a bunch of friends. This was our first time to try, and I was mightily impressed. For a surprisingly small price, the 6 of us had 3 professional surfing coaches who had us all standing up on our boards on our first or second tries. It was exhilarating!
d. Seeing the premiere of Star Wars, which hasn’t even opened in the U.S. It was awesome. Enough said. I won’t spoil it for you.

As I did all of these activities with my family over the past 3 days, Wednesday’s unwritten post hovered somewhere in the back of my mind like unfinished homework. The more compulsive side of me wanted to get all nervous about it, but I’m doing better about keeping that bad boy down. I’m reminded that in all seasons, presence is worth so much more than accomplishment. And at Christmastime especially, when it’s easy to get all wound up in gift-buying and wrapping and “need-to’s,” maybe it’s time to just step back, make a cup of hot chocolate, and play a good game of Risk with your kiddos.

Chocolate pecan kisses certainly don’t hurt either, and they only take about half an hour to make… just sayin’.
Happy Thursday before Christmas, folks!